I love the first part of winter – the novelty jumpers, looking forward to Christmas, smells of gingerbread, mulled wine and clementines – but there comes a time during winter that I start to really miss the summer; my sunny holidays and the taste of Mediterranean food. This dish brings together winter comfort food with the flavours of summer holidays in such a delicious way!
Ingredients:
1oz butter
1oz plain flour
1.5 pints of milk
7oz cheese grated
1 Chorizo
20 black olives, halved
9oz macaroni or conchiglie
Method
Slice the chorizo and fry in a non-stick pan. You’ll find the chorizo leaves oil in the pan. Remove the slices of chorizo and add the butter to the chorizo oil and then, over a low heat, stir in the flour to make a roux. By using the chorizo oil with the butter you’ll give your roux a lovely zing! Once you’ve made the roux, gradually add the milk, still over a lowish heat, until you have a sauce. Thicken the sauce by adding the cheese and stir in the slices of chorizo and the olive halves. You don’t want the sauce to be too thick as it will naturally thicken as the macaroni cooks in the oven.
Place the dry macaroni in a dish and pour the sauce over the top, covering entirely. Cook in an oven on gas mark 5 for 30 minutes. This is quite a rich dish so I like to serve it with a crisp salad or some fresh broccoli stems.
Ingredients
If you’re not a fan of fruit cake or winter spices, this is a great Christmas cake alternative…
when I go back, I’d stick to the gyoza or maybe try the Pomegranate Salad for something lighter. It wasn’t easy, but we did manage to finish it all! Ordinarily I’d say you really don’t need four sides between two of you (we wanted to try a range though, for the benefit of our readers!) but if you are hungry the sides don’t break the bank ranging from £3 to £4.90. 
Ingredients 
Last November was a fun month for me with lots of bookings and events at Willow Bough and a lot of nights out with plenty of fabulous live music. Definitely a work hard, party hard month! I was lucky that one of my favourite musicians, 
I then saw Charlie play at a free gig at Gail’s Bakery on Tottenham Court Road (as one of four acts playing that night) on 2 November and was due to see him again in a small café in Chiswick where he would play for just 50 people on Sunday 5 November. I felt so lucky to enjoy Charlie and his music live three times in as many weeks having only paid £5 for the privilege (honestly, if you’ve seen Charlie live you’ll know just how fortunate I was). This seemed a somewhat unfair deal to Charlie – although a marvellous one for me! – and so I wanted to do something to say thank you. So back to the question of Charlie’s favourite cake; while he admitted that all cake was great, his favourite is carrot cake. Back at the shop I set about making a carrot cake like no other carrot cake Charlie will have had before.
Now I don’t mind admitting that I’m a very good baker – my cakes and bakes always get such positive feedback and I know myself when something is good. I also know what I’m not so good at, and making my cakes look pretty is one such thing. I called in a favour from 
Charlie arrived at Rhythm and Brew in Chiswick ahead of his gig, and came over to say hello to me and my friend and I presented him with the cake. And I quote: “My favourite cake ever in my life…” I think our cake was a success!
I thought I might get a break from cooking over Christmas – which I spent in France with my family – but I just couldn’t help it. Firstly, I think if you have the love, passion and need to cook you just can’t help yourself. Secondly, in south west France the produce is so good it’s just too tempting to buy most of the shop and take it back to the kitchen for some fun!
We stuck to an almost traditional Christmas lunch on Christmas day, with duck as our main meat, served along with pigs in blankets, stuffing wrapped in bacon, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes… the usual trimmings. So by the day after Boxing Day I was ready to use up the left overs in something delicious – that could also serve as a picnic for the long drive back to London.
So I used the left over sprouts with onions and potatoes to make bubble and squeak patties that are not too dissimilar from farçou, a local street food that is sold at markets. We also had some eggs – too fragile for the long car ride home – and sausage meat – wouldn’t make the long journey without spoiling – and so I decided to do my own take on scotch eggs. While I didn’t have any breadcrumbs (all the spare bread went to feed the local donkeys!) I did have some streaky bacon left. So I wrapped my scotch eggs in bacon. And I was delighted with what I created, which turned out to be perfect picnic food!
While I’m sharing my recipes with you, I would urge you to have a go at these yourself but adapt the recipes to use up whatever leftover food you have. Be creative, include flavours you like, take advantage of what’s on offer in your local shops and use up what you have in your fridge. You never know you may discover a new favourite recipe!
12 cooked Brussels sprouts
Brown the onions in a frying pan, using a small piece of butter. Half the already cooked sprouts and add to the pan, stirring together. Add to the mashed potato, adding the egg, a splash of milk, the garlic and salt and pepper, and mix together. Make sure you already have the flour set aside on a plate, as the next step will see you get very sticky hands! Take a ball of the mixture and flatten it to create a patty, then cover in flour on both sides and set aside. Once you have used all the mixture fry the patties in a pan of hot butter until golden brown. I especially like these farçou fresh from the pan with a soft boiled or poached egg. Delicious!
Three eggs, soft-boiled
I always use the same fool-proof method to soft-boil eggs. Place your eggs in a pan and cover with boiling water and put on full heat. From the time the water is properly boiling, not simmering, start the timer for four minutes. When the timer finishes empty the water and cover with cold water. Replace the water again and shell the eggs in the water (this will leave your eggs totally clean of shell).
Ingredients
It’s the time of year when we crave comfort food – generally anything hot and carby. And it’s also the time of year for pumpkins and the like. So my recipe for butternut squash and Stilton pasties was perfect for this weekend. They’re super-easy and fun to make, and fun to eat too! They’re perfect for Halloween or bonfire night.
Ingredients 
Method
Cut the sheets of pastry into 12 squares (six squares per sheet). When the butternut squash and onion are cooked and cooled, add a desert spoonful to the middle of each square. Be careful not to overstuff as this can cause the pastry to tear. Add the Stilton, having chopped
To seal the pasties dip your finger in water and run it around the edge of the pastry square. Fold the square over the filling and fold up the edges, crimping together (you can use your fingers, and don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect, it will taste great and that’s all that matters!). Place on a baking tray and prick each pasty with a sharp knife before coating the pasties with the egg wash. Then pop them in the oven on gas mark 5 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Sweet Clare 